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00:01 Um there was a group of Pentecostal
00:05 Christians.
00:06 They went for a holiday.
00:10 So uh during Sunday they have to go to a
00:13 church and they couldn't find any
00:15 Pentecostal church in their place. So
00:17 they found a Baptist church.
00:20 So they went to the Baptist church. Uh
00:24 so as usual they when they go to Baptist
00:26 church it's very solemn. It's silent. So
00:28 they were singing, they were praising,
00:30 they were saying hallelujah. They were
00:32 saying praise God.
00:36 Then when the pastor was preaching, so
00:38 they were very excited. They say, "Oh,
00:40 praise the Lord. Praise the Lord." Yeah.
00:44 Then the the church gets a bit uh
00:45 uncomfortable, you know. Then one of the
00:48 members nudged them and said, "In this
00:51 church, we don't praise the Lord."
00:56 All right. a Baptist church. Is it true
00:59 that a Baptist church doesn't praise the
01:01 Lord?
01:02 Well, today the psalm says, the first
01:05 part of Psalms, come let us sing for joy
01:07 to the Lord. Let us shout aloud to the
01:10 rock of our salvation. Let us come
01:12 before him with thanksgiving and extol
01:14 him with music and songs. This is
01:16 worshiping God with excitement.
01:20 Um I know that sometimes we associate
01:23 worship with something that is very
01:25 solemn.
01:27 uh quiet reflective
01:30 that's fine we have a place for that but
01:32 definitely when when Psalms 95 the
01:34 psalist says that come sing for joy to
01:37 the Lord that is something that's
01:39 exciting and I want to highlight the
01:41 word extol
01:43 um the word extol doesn't mean exit a
01:46 toll you know these days you exit a toll
01:49 you won't be very happy with the
01:51 increase of the price of the toll the
01:54 word extol basically is a victory shout
01:56 or shout for joy.
01:59 Just now we sang a song. Uh oh.
02:07 So that is a shout for joy. Uh I didn't
02:12 hear yours very well just now.
02:19 Okay.
02:21 Chinese or most of the Chinese more
02:23 familiar with yams
02:26 or sometimes we do this. Yes. Yes.
02:31 Um
02:32 Cantonese call.
02:35 Yeah. Or the how do you say it in
02:38 English?
02:40 uh the
02:43 I don't know
02:46 uh the the um the muscle armpit was uh
02:52 having spasm. Yeah. So shouting for joy
02:57 is should be something very natural for
02:59 us because of who God is. Shout. So why
03:03 don't we we try one time. All right. The
03:05 the the song. Okay. Oh,
03:14 all right.
03:16 Oh,
03:21 too soft. One more time.
03:29 Ah, very good. So from this week onwards
03:32 right the many many weeks to come when
03:34 we sing songs that is of excitement of
03:37 uh of faster be let us join in and sing
03:40 because it is part of worship
03:44 uh Baptists do praise the lord
03:49 okay then I'm just quickly going through
03:51 because the the main part is actually at
03:53 the end the reason is that we have been
03:56 practicing that if you were to notice
03:58 that in our worship today that we sang
04:01 with fast song worship and excitement
04:04 and then we also sang about the worship
04:06 of God in Psalms 95:3-5
04:10 it says for the Lord is a great God the
04:13 great king above all gods in his hand
04:15 are the depths of the earth and the
04:17 mountain peaks belong to him the sea is
04:20 his for he made it and his hand formed
04:22 the dry land so it talks about the
04:24 worship of God who God is I highlighted
04:28 the word is because is describes an
04:32 objective truth. This is so here it says
04:37 the Lord is the great God. So it means
04:40 that whether whether or not you and I
04:42 worship him, whether you and I were to
04:44 acknowledge him, he is God is. So he is
04:50 who who who is he? He is the creator,
04:54 the controller and the owner of the
04:56 universe. That is from the verses in his
04:59 hands. That means he control it belongs.
05:01 That means he's the owner. He made it.
05:03 He's the creator.
05:05 So this is our God. The great God that
05:08 we worship the creator God. The the God
05:12 who is in control, the controller and
05:15 the owner of the universe.
05:18 And we can come together
05:21 as a community to meet with this God.
05:26 How exciting that is.
05:31 Then the next part is worshiping God
05:33 with reverence. Come, let us bow down in
05:36 worship. Let us kneel before the Lord
05:38 our maker. For he is our God and we are
05:40 the people of his pasture, the flock
05:43 under his care. Today if only you will
05:46 hear his voice. This phrase today if
05:48 only you will hear his voice is a poet
05:52 is a is a genius in terms of poetry
05:57 because it is both a conclusion and an
06:00 introduction. So over here I put it as a
06:03 conclusion.
06:06 This part of this part of Psalms nobody
06:08 has any problem with it. It talks about
06:10 praise. It talk about God. It talks
06:13 about reverence. Talk about bowing down.
06:14 It teaches us how to worship God.
06:18 I highlighted the word if because that
06:21 is the subjective factor.
06:25 We are that subjective factor.
06:29 Subjective means God gave us a choice.
06:33 The creator of the universe, the
06:35 controller and the owner of the universe
06:38 give us a choice to worship him or not.
06:42 Of course, the psalmist say, "But today,
06:45 if only you would hear his voice."
06:49 And after this, it's a warning. And I
06:52 want you to see the transition here. The
06:55 first the first seven verses or the part
06:58 of the seventh verse, the first part of
07:01 the psalm is a worship leader calling,
07:03 "Come, let us worship." And then you see
07:07 that today if only you would hear his
07:10 voice. Do not harden your heart as you
07:13 did at Maribba and you did the day at
07:16 Masa in the wilderness where your
07:18 ancestor tested me. They tried me though
07:20 they had seen what I did. For 40 years I
07:22 was angry with that generation. I said
07:26 they are a people whose heart go astray
07:28 and they have not known my ways. So I
07:31 declared an oath in my anger. They shall
07:33 never enter my rest. The transition here
07:36 is that from a worship leader now God
07:39 speaks.
07:40 Do you notice that I said I was angry.
07:44 Who is this I? This is God.
07:48 And we we experience this every week.
07:52 We sing songs and praises and then after
07:55 that a preacher would to come forward to
07:58 preach and to deliver us the word of
07:60 God. And God speaks every week.
08:05 So it's not something that is that is uh
08:07 foreign to us although it seems like
08:10 very abrupt
08:13 praises songs uh uh happiness reverence
08:18 very positive very good then suddenly
08:20 this part is a warning
08:23 well
08:24 a warning is important
08:29 and of course if a warning can be sung
08:31 as a song maybe it has some siren in it.
08:34 I I'm not too sure how to sing a a
08:36 warning song, but nevertheless, a
08:39 warning still has to be spoken
08:43 to warn us that
08:45 and this warning is do not harden your
08:48 heart.
08:55 So we are we we went through the whole
08:57 psalm very briefly
08:59 and it gave us very obvious reasons and
09:02 the obvious reasons is this. Why do we
09:05 worship? Because he is the rock of our
09:07 salvation. That's verse one. That means
09:09 he is our security
09:11 because he's the creator, the controller
09:13 and the owner of the universe. And
09:15 because we are his people. The psalmist
09:18 says that we are his he's our God and we
09:20 are his sheep.
09:22 These are very obvious reasons why we
09:24 worship. But I want to highlight
09:26 something that is not very obvious.
09:30 A corporate worship, a community worship
09:33 is actually an apparatus
09:36 to indicate our spiritual health. It is
09:39 a tool for it is actually a tool
09:43 to measure and for you to find out how
09:47 healthy are you spiritually. Let me
09:49 explain.
09:51 When you come when you and I when we
09:53 come to to worship God, we sang songs.
09:57 All these songs has lyrics.
09:59 Do you actually mean those lyrics?
10:05 Do you actually
10:08 hear those lyrics and those songs being
10:13 played? Like today we say that worthy is
10:16 the lamb.
10:19 How great is our God?
10:22 Do we actually mean it? So that is a
10:25 measure. Only you know. No, no, nobody
10:28 would know.
10:30 And then you have the sermon.
10:34 Is your heart receptive to the word of
10:36 God?
10:38 So that is why the the psalist says do
10:40 not harden your heart.
10:43 Well, I know that hardening of the heart
10:46 is is a cultural thing.
10:49 We we may we may not understand uh
10:52 unless we have a cultural context behind
10:53 it. Let me explain. For example,
10:57 the w for English for English speaking
11:01 uh for those who are English speaking we
11:03 understand the word die hard as hard to
11:06 die. It means you you cannot die, right?
11:10 U there was a movie made out of it. Die
11:12 hard. Uh Bruce Willis was in it. Yeah.
11:15 But for the Cantonese speaking people,
11:18 die hard means something that is the
11:21 opposite. Say
11:25 means sure die, right? Yeah. So could
11:29 you imagine those candidly speaking
11:30 people go and watch Die Hard and then
11:33 how come thinking that he may die
11:35 gruesomely but he didn't die and yet you
11:38 have like part one part two and then got
11:40 part three some
11:43 oh got part four someone now yeah very
11:46 hard to die man a guy yeah but then to
11:49 the how come you know it's like I
11:51 thought he's going to die but he didn't
11:53 die you know so hardening of the hearts
11:56 maybe sometimes we think that A heart of
11:58 steel. It means that a person that is
12:00 very very strong heart of gold. Somebody
12:04 that that is very good. But gold and
12:06 steel are something that is very hard.
12:09 So why is it bad to have a hardened
12:12 heart? Yeah. Basically
12:15 to have a hardened heart it means that
12:17 you are not sensitive to God. So the
12:20 psalist is saying that today if you hear
12:23 God's voice do not harden your heart.
12:26 Means
12:27 be be obedient to God. That is that is a
12:30 positive way of stating it. So in the
12:32 psalms you see that worship with
12:34 excitement, worship with reverence and
12:36 actually the third part if let's say we
12:38 want to state it positively is worship
12:41 with obedience.
12:44 Two incidents were highlighted
12:47 in uh in the in chap in verse 7 to 11.
12:51 It talks about uh Masa and Mibba. They
12:55 are name of places but they are named
12:57 after uh Masa basically mean testing.
12:60 Moriba basically means grumbling.
13:03 So when the people tested God that place
13:06 was named Masa and when the people
13:09 grumbled against God that place was
13:11 named Moriba. But these are these are
13:14 incidents that reminds us that people
13:18 continually test God and they
13:21 continually
13:23 uh complain about many things. It shows
13:26 a lack of faith.
13:28 Therefore the psalist says today
13:32 how often is today?
13:35 It means every day here today do not
13:39 harden your heart. That means every day
13:42 we do not harden our hearts. Every day
13:44 that we are sensitive to God, every day
13:46 that that we hear his his voice, every
13:48 day that that we worship him. So today,
13:53 therefore, when we come together
13:56 as a corporate body, as as a church, as
14:01 a community,
14:03 as we sing songs,
14:08 you will know whether you will know
14:10 where you stand
14:12 because the corporate worship
14:15 will help you indicate your spiritual
14:17 health.
14:19 One of the signs of hardened heart is
14:21 this.
14:23 I'm not pointing to a particular person
14:25 because um I don't really interact
14:29 very very closely with most of you. So
14:31 I'm not pointing to any particular
14:33 person. This is an example of a hardened
14:35 heart. Um one of our most expressive
14:39 speaker here in uh First Baptist Church
14:42 is Arnold. So since he's not here, I can
14:45 talk about him.
14:48 Okay. Yeah. So, let's say Arnold. All
14:50 right. Yeah. So, he he's very he's very
14:53 expressive, you know. And then let's say
14:56 one of us
14:58 give him an encouragement. Yes. Preach
15:00 it, brother. Hallelujah.
15:04 And it's like he's so the the person
15:06 that's sitting listening to Arnold is
15:08 like so excited about the message. He's
15:10 like so receptive about the message.
15:13 Well, yes, that is correct. Yeah, that's
15:15 exactly what God says. I agree with you
15:18 brother. Praise the Lord.
15:20 But actually deep in his heart
15:24 that person is thinking yeah praise the
15:26 Lord. Dr. Peter need to hear this.
15:30 Yeah, praise the Lord. Our elder need to
15:34 hear this. Elder Richard need to hear
15:36 this. Or so and so need to hear this. So
15:39 you are so the sermon is not directed to
15:42 you. You know the sermon is directed to
15:43 someone else. And you say, "Oh." And
15:46 then you start to look around whether
15:47 that person is here or not. Oh, he's
15:49 here. Then you smile at him. That person
15:51 thought you're greeting him and all. And
15:53 then you want to make sure whether the
15:56 person heard the message right after the
15:57 service. Then you go shake his hand or
15:59 like his friend, you know. Wow. Very
16:01 good. Very good sermon. Wow. I learned a
16:04 lot. You know what do you learn
16:07 to make sure the person heard the sermon
16:09 or not?
16:11 Friends,
16:14 the speaker is speaking to you.
16:17 God is speaking to you,
16:20 not someone else.
16:24 When you have that tendency, your heart
16:26 is hardening.
16:29 Whoever the preacher is, whether he's
16:30 exciting or he's monotonous,
16:35 as long as the preacher is speaking from
16:36 the word of God, God is speaking and God
16:41 is speaking to each and every one of us.
16:44 It is a personal message as well as a
16:47 corporate message.
16:49 So when we share with one another,
16:52 if it is an encouragement, we come
16:56 together and we praise God.
16:59 If it reveals a certain part of us that
17:01 is not right with God, we come together,
17:04 pray for repentance and also pray that
17:07 we keep one another accountable.
17:10 It's not whether the person heard the
17:12 message or not. It's about have I heard
17:15 the message and am I responding to God?
17:20 Well, how how are we supposed to take
17:23 this? How do we respond to this?
17:26 This is this cannot be taken lightly
17:29 because Hebrews, the book of Hebrews has
17:32 two chapters. Two chapters they are the
17:35 commentary of uh Psalms 95 verse 7 to
17:39 11, chapter 3 and chapter 4. But today
17:42 I'm just going to pick up some verses
17:43 from chapter 4. Therefore, while the
17:46 promise of entering his rest still
17:47 stands, let us fear, let us fear lest
17:51 any of you should seem to have failed to
17:53 reach it. For good news came to us just
17:56 as to them, them means the forefathers.
17:60 But the message they heard did not
18:01 benefit them because they were not
18:04 united with by faith with those who
18:06 listen. The word united by faith means
18:09 it is combined by faith. They heard the
18:11 word of God. The word of God has to be
18:14 combined with faith. It's just like our
18:17 combustion engine. The air and the gas
18:20 has to be combined. Under pressure, it
18:23 will combust.
18:24 Same as our faith. God's word and our
18:27 heart have to be combined with faith and
18:30 then we are able to live out the word of
18:33 God.
18:35 Verse 11. Let us therefore strive to
18:37 enter that rest so that no one may fall
18:39 by the same sort of disobedience. So it
18:42 is very very clear it's about obedience.
18:46 The rest in the historical context when
18:48 psalms is written it is the promised
18:50 land which is Canaan land.
18:54 But the rest now for Christian is about
18:56 the heaven. It's about the complete
18:60 total fellowship with God. And that is
19:04 the rest that's the author of Hebrew is
19:08 talking about.
19:10 And here the word says let us therefore
19:13 strive to enter. That means
19:17 we have to put effort in it. It doesn't
19:20 come automatically.
19:23 And how do we respond to that? The Paul
19:26 uh the apostle Paul says this
19:30 spiritual life is like a race.
19:33 and he said that I want to complete this
19:34 race
19:37 and I can assure you that the race is
19:39 not a 100 meter dash it's a marathon
19:44 it's long distance
19:46 is endure is an endurance sport and
19:49 these days I started running again um
19:53 running 10 kilometers is is I I had this
19:56 talk with Isaiah key the the groom uh
20:02 who was married yesterday.
20:04 So we exchange notes and I asked for
20:08 some tips from him. Basically running
20:10 10km is is not difficult.
20:13 As long as you have enough sleep, you
20:15 eat well, you stretch, you can run and
20:19 stretch after that, you're fine. It is
20:23 the longer distance that takes more
20:25 discipline because you have to
20:27 replenish.
20:28 You have to take salt.
20:31 You also have to take energy. So, some
20:33 people take uh gel, some people take
20:35 power bar. And then we notice one thing
20:38 about Malaysian. This is a Malaysian
20:40 secret. We Malaysian can eat dodo
20:45 if we will run marathon because it's
20:47 full of energy
20:49 for me. Coconut candy works very well.
20:54 And recently in Singapore uh 5th of
20:58 December to be specific there standard
21:01 there was a standard chartered marathon
21:04 u in Singapore and there was this news
21:06 about a man a Singaporean.
21:09 He joined a race. He ran six miles and
21:13 then he he faked that he was tired and I
21:16 had crammed and then somehow he managed
21:19 to get onto a a medical vehicle
21:22 and then drop him at a bus stop. So he
21:26 was at a bus stop. He sat there about
21:27 two hours just waited for all the the
21:30 the runners the first batch of the
21:32 runners to come by. So he saw out all
21:35 the Kenyans as in African from Kenya
21:38 they ran by and then he saw some Asians.
21:41 Okay then so so it is safe. So he put on
21:44 the number again and then started
21:46 running and then he finished the race
21:50 and to the surprise of the whole island
21:53 of Singapore he's the fastest
21:55 Singaporean that ever finished the
21:57 marathon.
21:60 Then they find it so weird. Who is this
22:02 guy? We never heard of him. He is even
22:05 better than the national athlete, the
22:07 national runner, you know. So things are
22:10 a bit a miss. So they checked, realized
22:13 that he didn't went through he only went
22:15 through one checkpoint, you know. He he
22:17 didn't go through most of the
22:18 checkpoints and finally he know that he
22:21 had to admit that he cheated. Yeah.
22:26 He he didn't run the whole 42 km. He
22:30 just ran about 6 km, I think. for six
22:32 miles
22:34 and then his and then his his innocent
22:36 response was all I wanted is the
22:39 finishing t-shirt that's all I wanted
22:46 then the so many people scolded him and
22:49 say saying this we know we Singaporean
22:52 very gas but we are not as like this
22:55 okay yeah don't bring it don't take it
22:59 to the next level
23:04 In our spiritual life,
23:07 we have actually registered in a race.
23:12 We already have that number
23:15 and all of us are running.
23:19 Some of us we are tired but we are still
23:21 walking.
23:23 But I can tell you this, you cannot
23:26 cheat
23:28 in spiritual life. You cannot cheat.
23:34 The most important thing is to finish
23:36 the race.
23:39 That's what this psalm is, that's what
23:41 Hebrews is talking about. Let us strive
23:45 so that we can enter that rest. Let us
23:48 pray.
23:53 Our
24:01 heavenly father and almighty God,
24:08 sometimes we are tired. We feel like
24:10 giving up.
24:13 Running this race is painful.
24:17 But God, we know that you walk with us
24:19 and you run with us.
24:22 Replenish the joy
24:25 of our first love.
24:30 Replenish our strength, oh God, that we
24:32 are weak.
24:35 Let us keep our eyes on you, on Jesus.
24:41 We want to finish the race, God.
24:45 In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
25:05 Shall we rise
25:08 worship our Lord?
25:16 Let's open our hearts. As pastor Joshua
25:19 said,
25:21 I think it is important.
25:24 It's important to tell our Lord
25:27 to tell him about how we want to worship
25:30 him,
25:32 how we want to trust him,
25:35 and how he works in our lives.
25:40 I think it's important for all of us to
25:43 know that our God, our God is a God of
25:46 love.
25:49 As much as he loves us,
25:53 I think our love is also back to him.
25:59 And when we come to our God,
26:02 much as we want to hear from him, he
26:05 wants to hear from us.
26:07 So when we worship,
26:10 when we worship,
26:13 even the the heavens hears us. God
